Water

Water and wastewater for a tiny house: the question that decides the plot.

Power you can generate. Water you can store. Wastewater has to go somewhere an authority accepts, and that is what determines whether the plot works.

Water

Power you can generate. Water you can store. Wastewater has to go somewhere an authority accepts, and that is what determines whether the plot works.

Grey water is the real constraint

Shower, basin and kitchen produce the daily volume, and it is grey water that most owners underestimate. A composting toilet removes the black water question and leaves grey water entirely unresolved.

The options are a connection to the sewer, a package treatment plant, or a reed bed and soakaway where the ground and the authority both permit it. All three are assessed before the building consent, not after.

A mains connection is worth measuring first

Utilities price by the metre and the trench is the expensive part. Fifty metres to the boundary is a different project from four hundred, and the answer changes which of the options above is even worth pricing.

Ask for a quotation as soon as the plot is identified. It is free, it takes a fortnight, and it is the number the rest of the budget hangs off.

Tanks: size on days, not litres

Two people use roughly 100 to 200 litres a day with normal fixtures and considerably less with an aerated shower head and a low-flush toilet. Size the fresh tank on how many days you want between fills and the grey tank to match, or you are emptying one while the other is still half full.

Put both where they can be drained and inspected. A tank that freezes because it sits in an unheated void is a predictable failure and an avoidable one.

Rainwater is easy for some uses and hard for others

Collected roof water is straightforward for toilet flushing, laundry and the garden. For drinking it needs filtration and disinfection that can be demonstrated, plus a service routine — it is an installation, not a purchase.

Roof area on a tiny house is small. Run the arithmetic for your rainfall before committing: 30 square metres of roof in a dry summer month is less water than people expect.

Freeze protection is a winter design item

Pipes in unheated voids, the outside tap and the supply at the chassis are where a freeze starts. Trace heating and a drain-down valve solve it, and for a let unit the drain-down has to be a written procedure with a named person.

Design it in. Retrofitting trace heating to a closed floor cassette is not a job anybody enjoys.

Questions

Water

Power you can generate. Water you can store. Wastewater has to go somewhere an authority accepts, and that is what determines whether the plot works.

No. It removes black water only. Shower and basin still produce grey water needing an approved discharge, and that is what the authority assesses.

Size it on days between fills. Two people use roughly 100–200 litres a day; a 500-litre tank is two to three days, not a week.

Only with demonstrable filtration and disinfection, plus a maintenance routine. For flushing, laundry and the garden it needs none of that.

Five destination markets

What has to be settled in each country.

The same question is answered differently in Copenhagen than in Zurich. These five points belong in every project check, whatever detail you are researching right now.

Germany

Responsible: the lower building authority of the district or independent city.

Governing plan: the Bebauungsplan, or an assessment under §34 or §35 BauGB where there is none.

Permanent living is possible where the plot lies within a built-up area or a Bebauungsplan permits residential use and the project is approved. In the outer area under §35 BauGB, living is privileged only in narrowly defined cases — the most common reason German projects fail.

Germany →

Netherlands

Responsible: the municipality, through the Omgevingsloket.

Governing plan: the municipal omgevingsplan under the Environment and Planning Act.

Permanent living requires a residential function in the omgevingsplan. Many attractive sites are designated for recreation, where permanent residence is not allowed — even where it happens in practice.

Netherlands →

Denmark

Responsible: the kommune.

Governing plan: the lokalplan together with the zone status (byzone, sommerhusområde or landzone).

Permanent living requires a site in byzone or an equivalent designation. In sommerhusområder year-round residence is restricted in principle, and exceptions are tied to personal conditions.

Denmark →

Luxembourg

Responsible: the commune.

Governing plan: the plan d'aménagement général (PAG) and the associated plan d'aménagement particulier (PAP).

Permanent living is possible where the PAG zone permits residential use and the autorisation de construire is granted. Because municipalities are small, practice differs noticeably from place to place.

Luxembourg →

Switzerland

Responsible: the municipality together with the canton.

Governing plan: the municipal land-use plan and the zoning ordinance.

Permanent living is possible inside the building zone where the zone permits residential use and the Baubewilligung is granted. Outside the building zone, living is admissible only in narrowly defined exceptions — the most common reason Swiss projects fail.

Switzerland →
All questions and answers per destination →
Models

Which models come into question.

Eight plans on one technical basis, 2.55 metres wide. What differs is length, layout and specification depth.

ModelLayoutLengthEx works
MD 1Panorama and loft8.00 m or 9.70 m44,900 €
MD 2Two lofts for families9.00 m52,900 €
MD 3Loft plus extra room8.00 m or 9.70 m47,900 €
MD 4Loft, room and veranda8.00 m or 9.00 m50,900 €
MD 5Compact with extra room8.00 m or 9.00 m46,900 €
MD 6Chalet with pitched roof8.00 m or 9.00 m54,900 €
MD 7Entry model8.00 m42,900 €
MD 8Compact, upgraded line8.00 m45,900 €
See MD 1 to MD 8
Checklist

Five points before ordering.

  • A written answer from the responsible authority on admissibility at the specific plot — verbal assurances do not carry a project.
  • Access and unloading point, with photographs and dimensions. In practice the last hundred metres cause more trouble than the long haul.
  • Servicing: the distance to power, drinking water and sewer. That distance sets one of the largest secondary items.
  • Type of use and number of people. Permanent living, holidays and letting lead to different specifications of the same model.
  • Budget range including foundation, connections, unloading, planning, fees and insurance — not just the ex-works price.

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